Читать книгу The Cradle Ship - Edith Howes - Страница 3
ОглавлениеFAIRY MOTHER
Win and Twin, on their way home after their trip with the fairy rings,[1] were met at the railway station by their father.
[1] "Fairy Rings." By Edith Howes. (Cassell & Co., Ltd.)
"We have a surprise at home for you," he said.
"What is it?" the twins asked together.
Their father laughed.
"It wouldn't be a real surprise if I told you now," he said. "Wait and see."
It was hard to wait, until Win began to tell him of their wonder-trip. Then the twins talked so fast, and Father was so astonished, and they all grew so excited, that the surprise was forgotten till they reached home.
Mother met them at the door, with her dearest "welcome home" smile and kisses. "We have a surprise for you!" she too said; and she led them through the house to the back veranda. "Walk softly," she said.
Win was the first to see the cradle.
"Oh, Mother!" she cried, and her face was all aglow. She ran on tiptoe to the cradle. Yes, it was true! There lay a real baby, fast asleep. She knelt beside it, and gazed and gazed. "A baby!" she whispered. "Is it ours, Mother? Our very own, to keep?"
"Our very own, to keep," smiled Mother.
"Oh, isn't it lovely!" Win went on whispering. "Look at the dear little hands! Twin, you are glad, surely!"
Twin was kneeling by the other side of the cradle.
"Of course I am. There are nails on its hands already," he said in surprise. "Can it open its eyes?"
"When he is awake he can," said Mother.
"Kittens can't see at first," Twin said. "Not for ever so long. Nor puppies either."
"Babies can," said Mother.
"Oh, I do wish he would wake up," said Win. "I do want to see his eyes."
"Come and take off your hats and coats," said Mother. "You shall see his eyes by and by. And you shall see the whole of him when I put him in his bath."
It was the next day that a question began to puzzle Win.
"Where did Mother get our baby?" she asked Twin.
"I don't know," he replied. "I was wondering about that myself. We'll go and ask her."
They went into the sitting-room, but Mother was not there. Granny was dusting the chairs.
"What do you want?" she asked.
Now it was a little secret between Win and Twin that "Town Granny" was not quite so dear and cuddly as "Grandma at the farm, but Win thought she might do as well for answering questions, so she asked:
"Granny, where do babies come from?"
"Babies? Oh, people find them under gooseberry bushes," said Granny.
The twins rushed out into the garden.
"We might find another," said Twin.
But half-way down the path Win stopped short.
"It wasn't a really truly answer," she said.
"Win!"
"Well, it wasn't. I can feel that it wasn't. Besides, think how many days we've played round those gooseberry bushes. Wouldn't we have seen a baby if it had been there?"
Twin kicked his heels.
"Have one look, to make sure," he said.
"Very well," said Win. "But I know there won't be one."
They looked, lifting the laden branches and peering carefully under every bush. Of course, there was not a baby to be found.
"Nasty scratchy places!" said Win, whose finger was bleeding from a thorn. "No one would be cruel enough to put a baby under there, I am sure."
"I wonder why Granny told us such a story," said Twin.
"We'll go in and ask her for a really truly answer," Win said. They went to Granny again.
"You ask this time," said Win, turning shy when she saw Granny.
Twin spoke up bravely.
"Please, Granny, will you tell us truly where babies come from?"
Granny looked quite cross.
"Don't ask such questions," she said sharply. "It's rude. Run away and don't be naughty."
The children went slowly outside. Rude! Their faces were red, and they didn't speak to one another, for somehow they felt ashamed. It was a horrid feeling; they couldn't understand it at all. "We didn't mean to be rude!" was all Win could think; but she didn't say it aloud.
They played in the garden, not very happily at first; but presently the two little girls from next door came in, and they all had a good romp, and the twins forgot Granny's crossness.
But that night Win woke from sleep, feeling miserable. She wanted Mother, though she couldn't remember why. She wondered if it was very late; but no, it couldn't be, for she could hear Mother's voice: dear Mother singing in the sitting-room. She would get up and go to her.
She slipped out of bed and tiptoed along the passage to the sitting-room door. There she stood still, not daring to go in. Granny might be with Mother. Granny was always with Mother now. Granny might say, "Go to bed! Don't be naughty!" Or perhaps "That's rude!" What a dreadful word that was! Somehow, it made you feel so hot. She turned hot now when she thought of it. Oh, why had Granny come to stay with them?
Mother's voice was the sweetest in the whole world. She was singing softly, as if the baby lay in her lap or in the cradle beside her, and she was so happy that she must sing. Now she stopped, and then began all over again. Win could hear the words:
"The world lies stilled in mist,
Baby dear, baby dear.
Where cloud and earth have kissed,
Baby, O baby dear.
But out of the stillness there comes a croon,
Mother bird singing to shrouded moon:
'My babies are coming out soon, ah, soon!'
Slumber, my baby dear.
"We wait the sun-kissed day,
Baby dear, baby dear.
Watching the night away,
Baby, O baby dear.
Mother birds, baby birds, you, Love, and I,
Warm in the house or out under the sky,
Awake for the dawn and the glad by and by.
Slumber, my baby dear.
"What will the future bring?
Baby dear, baby dear.
Will birdies sweetly sing?
Baby, O baby dear.
And what of your voice in the shrouded years?
Will its music ring true to listening ears?
Will it call to joy, or heart-broken tears?
But slumber, oh, slumber yet, Baby, my dear."
Win crept back to the bedroom. She was crying, though she hardly knew why, unless it was because Mother's voice sounded so loving and yet so shut away from her. She crossed to Twin's bed.
"Twin!" she said. "Twin!"
"I am awake," said Twin. "Where did you go to?"
"To the sitting-room. But the door was shut. I wanted to go to Mother, but Granny might be there."
"What's the matter, Win? Are you sick?"
"Not sick. But, Twin, Mother will tell us about babies. She won't be cross. I want to ask her, if only Granny won't be there."
"I'll come with you, Win. Never mind if Granny is there. Of course, Mother will tell us."
Hand in hand the two little white-robed children trotted along the passage to the sitting-room door. Twin turned the handle, and they peeped in. Joy, Granny was not there. Mother sat sewing alone, but for the baby asleep in his cradle.
She looked up in astonishment at the children.
"What is the matter?" she asked.
The twins fairly ran at her. Win snuggled into her lap and Twin hung round her neck. Mother's arms were about them both in an instant, and her kisses were very comforting; but she was puzzled.
"What is it?" she asked again. "Has something frightened you?"
"No," said Twin; "but we thought Granny might be here, and we are glad she is not."
"Why, dear?"
"Because we asked her where babies come from, and she said we were rude, and so to-night Win was crying, and I came with her to ask you, even if Granny was here."
Mother began to understand; but before she could speak Win's flushed face was laid against hers, and a choking little voice asked:
"Was it rude, Mother?"
"No, darling," said Mother very gently. "Granny made a mistake—that was all. She didn't understand. Of course, you want to know where babies come from; all boys and girls do. And you shall know. I have been so busy with my little new baby that I haven't had time to take you. But you shall go to-night."
The twins were beaming now.
"Go? Where?" they asked.
"To Babyland," she said. "There you shall see things for yourselves. Dress, and I will take you at once."
She took them to their room, lit the lamp, and left them to dress. When they went back to the sitting-room she was standing in the middle of the floor with the baby in her arms, and Father was looking at her and saying: "Well, I shall come too. You will want someone to make the poetry, you know."
Father made beautiful poetry. Mother admired it immensely; so did the twins.
"Of course you must come," said Mother. "We couldn't go without you, nor without Baby. The whole family shall go. Granny will take care of the house.
"We must have an airship," she went on. "Somebody lift the cradle, please."
Father lifted the cradle, and Mother touched it with her hand. It suddenly grew large, and floated in the air by itself, and two white sails shot out from its sides like wings. The cradle had become a ship.
"Oh, look! Mother is a fairy!" cried Win. A fairy she was. Gauzy wings stood up from her shoulders, her frock had changed to long, shining robes, and she was more beautiful than ever.
The twins danced round her.
"Mother was a fairy all the time, and we didn't know it till now!" they cried.
She smiled at them.
"Mother is a fairy, and Father is a poet, and the twins have the power to hear and see as the fairies hear and see, so we are sure to find out everything," she said. "Now let us go."
She stepped into the ship, sitting in front to steer. The baby lay in her lap. Father and the twins followed; there were seats for all.
"Open, Wall, and let us through!" said the Fairy Mother. The wall opened to let them through, and closed again behind them. Out they sailed into the starlit night.
